With people’s lifestyles and work-life balances suddenly thrown under the spotlight, Covid had a huge impact on UK property trends – but how does the pandemic still influence the market?
When the pandemic hit the UK in 2020, a huge raft of changes in the UK property market ensued, with the sector temporarily grounding to a halt as builders downed tools and estate and letting agents locked their doors.
Eventually, the industry found ways around it, using social distancing to stay safe in the workplace, and conducting fully digital viewings of properties with no face-to-face contact. Through this, the housing market picked back up, and ultimately accelerated at an unprecedented pace as buyers, sellers and tenants sprang back into action.
This led to huge UK property price growth – but a huge shift in preferences had also taken place, with appetite for more rural and coastal locations ramping up, and cities somewhat losing their appeal as home-working became the norm. Commuter towns were another target for buyers who had begun to prioritise space and a work-life balance over a fast commute to the office.
While the number of people who work either fully remotely or on a hybrid basis is still significantly higher than it was pre-pandemic, there has been a more recent drive from employers to get staff back into their central office locations.
In terms of the UK property market, this has been swinging the balance back more towards the ‘norms’ of 2019 and earlier. However, with huge advances in technology over the past five years making it easier than ever to work remotely, there is still a big focus on flexible working – and this need for flexibility in people’s property choices is still apparent.
UK property trends swinging back
According to a new study by property portal Rightmove, there has been a reversal in the city and coastal trends more recently, with properties in seaside locations taking three weeks longer to sell than they did during 2020. This follows on from Cornwall overtaking London as the most searched for area on Rightmove in March 2021, while less than half (47%) of London dwellers wanted to stay in London.
The latest data from this year, though, shows London has once again become the most searched for location for UK property on Rightmove, while 58% of Londoners want to stay living in the capital.
The shift in appetite has shown up UK property prices, too. In March 2021, asking prices for homes near the sea were 4.5% higher than a year previously, compared with 2.7% annual growth across the country as a whole. But this year, asking prices have only gone up by 1% annually, lower than the national average.
What are buyers looking for?
One thing that punctuated UK property searches during the pandemic was the ‘race for space’. People were spending more time than ever in their homes, and suddenly realised they wanted more space, perhaps with a home office, and this was another factor that pushed people to more rural locations. According to Rightmove’s research, this continues to be a preference among today’s buyers.
Average asking prices for semi-detached homes have seen the biggest five-year asking price increase of 24%, followed by detached houses with 23% price growth%, which indicates larger properties have seen the highest demand during these years. This could also be linked to the fact that wages have risen at a higher rate than house prices, which could have given some buyers more borrowing power.
Flats have only seen asking prices increase by 5% during the same period, while terraced house prices have gone up by 15%.
In terms of key words that UK property buyers are searching for, Rightmove’s research shows that ‘garage’ ranked number one in both 2020 and 2025 among buyers. The second most popular search term has changed though: in 2020, it was ‘acre’, a nod towards the preference for more rural locations, while in 2025 it was ‘annexe’.
Shifts in the rental market
The rental sector remains a vital part of the UK property market, and this has been exacerbated by rising mortgage rates since Covid hit, which has restricted some would-be first-time buyers from getting onto the property ladder. The greater flexibility on offer when renting rather than owning a home also remains important to many, and this may have also become more apparent since Covid.
While the average age that people first buy a home has increased, the majority of tenants remain those in a younger age bracket (under 35), and this demographic is more likely to work at least some of the time in an office. Therefore, when it comes to rental homes, central locations have remained important.
According to Rightmove, the top key word search among tenants has also remained unchanged between 2020 and 2025: ‘pets’. With the upcoming Renters’ Rights Bill set to make it easier for tenants to request to have pets, with landlords not being allowed to unreasonably refuse, this will be an important consideration for property investors going forward.
However, while the second most popular search term for tenants was ‘furnished‘ in 2020, it is now ‘garage’, with furnished flat searches dropping down to fourth position. This could indicate more tenants are looking for longer-term homes, which they prefer to furnish themselves.
Similarly, while ‘bills included’ was an important factor for tenants, ranking in fifth position as a search term in 2020, it is no longer in the top five tenant priorities.
UK property – commuting priorities
Steve Pimblett, Rightmove’s chief data officer, said: “Five years on from the pandemic, many short-term trends brought about by the unique circumstances of lockdown have reversed. Coastal homes are taking longer to find buyers and price growth has stabilised as more supply has come onto the market, some likely from movers heading back to the city. At the same time, fewer people are looking to escape cities, as life has returned to normal, and the debate continues about remote versus office working.”
Nathan Emerson, Propertymark CEO, said: “Directly following the pandemic, many people saw the home working revolution as a potential opportunity to pursue a new or different lifestyle, often away from traditional town and city centres, as there was little need to be present within a physical office location five days a week.
“As time has progressed, substantial numbers of employers are now starting to ask their employees to make a return to centralised office locations, thus reversing the trend of five years ago for many people, and they are choosing metropolitan areas once again where there are likely better transport links and a more competitive jobs market in many cases.”
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